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Monday, March 01, 2010

That time of the week again...

Today was home-ed group of the week day. There is always an undertone of excitement to such days. As we prepare to depart, loud cries of "Who will be there today?" bellow out from around the corners of our home. At that moment nobody knows what delights they will get up to, how the day will progress, and what new friends will be welcomed into our lives. Today was a little more exciting than the norm, as we were meeting with a family that I have conversed with a little via Facebook. Just 4 weeks ago this family moved to Devon from 'up there North' to start a new chapter in their lives. Today would be our first real-life rendezvous.

I love meeting new people. Particularly those kind of people with whom you share a passion with. The kind of people that share your enthusiasm for something close to your heart. I always relish that primary communication. I enjoy the initial bombardment of questions as we "suss" each other out, and smile when I think that these new people that have just walked into our lives, may - just may - climb a rung of the fondness ladder from acquaintance to friend.

We had arranged to meet the family straight off their bus and walk together to the home-ed meeting. Of course there were moments of apprehension on our part. What will they be like? Will we "click"? Will the conversation flow with ease? Of course in a group situation such things are less important, but initially it was just going to be us and them. Immediately upon meeting though, all trepidations disappeared. You know when you just get that feeling that you are going to like someone? Maybe it's the friendly smiles we were greeted with. Maybe it was the confident "we like walking" that echoed as I said it wasn't really very far to the group venue. Maybe it is something subconcious beyond definition. Whatever it is, I like it :)

This week the group was held at Mirjam's house. We arrived and introductions were made. The children soon scurried off to find mischief, things to do, and the mums unpacked food goodies and exchanged the usual greetings. It still amazes me just how easily the children have just slotted into this group. We have very rarely had to intervene to deal with any squabbles, and they generally just seem happy to have the opportunity to socialise. To just meet with friends and talk and play together. Relaxed and with no pressures to conform. Todays activities included Lego construction, trampolining, chess playing, cake eating, games of hide and seek ("Have you seen Chelsea?" *grin*), a very noisy but obviously much enjoyable war game, lots of different role playing games, and a bit of TV watching. There was no doubt more - but this is what I myself was witness to :)

Oh, I almost forgot - and a rather spontaneous experiment.

Question. What happens when you put the plug in the upstairs bathroom sink, turn both taps on full blast, and leave the room - closing the bathroom door behind you? I'll give you a minute to write your answers. Clock is ticking. Almost out of time... ok, pens down please.

I shall take you on a journey. Imagine, cosily sitting in Mirjams kitchen (imagine lovely light room, large space, the scent of home baked goodies wafting in front of your nose making your taste buds salivate at the promised delights...are you with me?) We (us mums) were chatting, putting the world to rights with (I'd like to think) intelligent discussions, when suddenly a lone voice disturbs this perfect scene. A timorous voice that seeks help. Why? Because the lounge ceiling light seems to be relieving itself. Whoopsie.

Cue operation HE mums. We leap into action as only us organised and non-stress heads can. 2 run upstairs and seek out the cause for this internal downpour. The others (I'm guessing here ok? I was one of those running upstairs at this moment - so this may be a purely fictional account of the action downstairs, but I will make presumptions because I want to...) rushed around like headless chickens in military style precision doing exactly what needed to be done. Now, as I said, I was upstairs at this exact moment, rushing around like a headless chicken calmly but swiftly searching the upper floor for the source of the problem. I (alongside my faithful comrade) then proceeded to seek out porous materials (namely towels of all sizes) that will stop us staring in disbelief at the mess on the floor, and actually give us a reason to get down on our hands and knees and start to rectify the situation. I'm presuming that at this particular juncture of time, those dealing with Operation Downstairs were not sitting back on their behinds, continuing to sip their tea whilst the danger of collapsing ceiling and electrocution beckoned, but hey, I can't be sure...

As the source of the problem was located as being the afore mentioned plug-taps-flood experiment, I think it is only right that we deem to analyse this behaviour by obviously a young scientist/plumber/electrician/building repairer in the making.

Now either:

* a child full of natural curiousity seeking answers to his or her many questions surrounding floods, houses, and consequences of actions, had taken it upon themselves to test out his or her own theories within the relative safety of a home. Obviously this is more preferable that same child testing out his or her theories in a flooded fast flowing river or such like.

* or, a child full of the same natural curiousity coupled with a little bit of mischievous glee, was left with a little too much time on his or her hands. This resulted in the experiment known as "How can we get ALL of the mums out of the kitchen at the exact same time?" I'd take bets on there being a sniggering child hidden somewhere timing our reaction to emergencies and putting us down as a fail.

* or lastly, and possibly the most plausible, a child full of said natural curiousity decided that he or she would love to fill up the sink with water and play. Only said child gets distracted by the very intense, noisy and obviously very exciting tactical war game that was occuring just outside the door, that game looked like more fun so....

Whatever the reason behind the action, the result was spectacularly the same - A miniature version of Lake Erie covering the bathroom floor, complete with fully functioning Niagra Falls in the lounge. Superb! Who says children can't learn in a home environment? Wasn't it only a few days ago that dear Ms. Think I Know It All Fern Britton asked how we manage to stop our children from daydreaming and start to actually learn something? Well Fern, I can tell you right now that no child witnessing the resulting chaos today was daydreaming. In fact I can quote one young eye-witness as saying "Wow, I've only ever seen this in the movies - I didn't know it would happen in real life..."

So there all you none H.E believers, imagine what lessons have been learnt today.

I'll finish off by dispelling another myth (I'm clearly on a roll today). This is how us wierd, unsocialised home-educators look like when we are...erm...well....socialising :o)

*Disclaimer*

These are my own personal thoughts and opinions. My own experiences, my own (admittedly hot-headed) rants and distresses. I will not apologise for voicing my opinion here on my own personal blog - but I do apologise if any distress or offence is caused to those that don't share my views. If you don't like what I'm writing - don't read it, but I'd prefer it if you do :o)